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exchange 2007 disk configuration - 18.Jan.2008 11:16:53 AM

ubay25

Posts: 14
Joined: 18.Jan.2008
Status: offline

We are a company with less than 50 users. I am wondering what would be the best disk configuration for a 6x SAS 146Gig 15k disks?
This is what I am planning so far:
2x disk - RAID 1 - 146Gig - Windows/Exchange install
2x disk - RAID 1 - 146Gig - Transaction logs (active) and Database (LCR)
2x disk - RAID 1 - 146 Gig - Database (active) Transaction logs (LCR)

I cross switched the active and lcr so that the active DB and logs would still be on different physical disks as recommended by others. Is this a good idea or not? If not, can you suggest a better setup for my existing hardware. Thanks!

Post #: 1

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RE: exchange 2007 disk configuration - 18.Jan.2008 2:56:44 PM

Sembee

Posts: 3960
Joined: 17.Jan.2008
From: Somewhere near London, UK
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My personal opinion is that you don't have enough disks.
You are going to thrash the server in that configuration.
I would only consider using LCR with a separate array.
If you are going to use that configuration and really must use LCR then put the t-logs and database on to the same array and then LCR them to the second array. The performance hit will be the same.

Remember Exchange is a high transactional database - it writes to the database and the T-logs almost sequentially. That is why you get a performance gain from separating them. However what you are doing is removing that performance gain.

Simon.

_____________________________

Simon Butler,
Exchange MVP
Blog: http://www.sembee.co.uk/
Web: http://www.amset.info/
In the UK? Hire me: http://www.amset.co.uk/

(in reply to ubay25)

Post #: 2

RE: exchange 2007 disk configuration - 18.Jan.2008 8:03:51 PM

ubay25

Posts: 14
Joined: 18.Jan.2008
Status: offline

Thanks, I realize your point now. So I guess I'll stick with

2x disk - RAID 1 - 146Gig - Windows/Exchange install
2x disk - RAID 1 - 146Gig - t-logs and database (active)
2x disk - RAID 1 - 146 Gig - t-logs and database (LCR)

or how about this setup

2x disk - RAID 1 - 146Gig - Windows/Exchange install
1x disk - No RAID - 146Gig - T-logs (active)
1x disk - No RAID - 146Gig - database (active)
1x disk - No RAID - 146Gig - T-logs (lcr)
1x disk - No RAID - 146Gig - database (lcr)

Will the second have more performance gain? What would be the pros and cons of both setup?
Also how about disk space, is 146Gig be enough for less than 50 users? I know this size would be enough for the OS/exchange install but how about the logs and database, should I increase it to 300Gig instead for the logs and/or database?

(in reply to Sembee)

Post #: 3

RE: exchange 2007 disk configuration - 19.Jan.2008 1:21:51 PM

Sembee

Posts: 3960
Joined: 17.Jan.2008
From: Somewhere near London, UK
Status: offline

Do you have to use LCR?
Single disks is not a good idea as you don't get any redundancy.
On this number of users I would not be looking to use LCR unless additional disks can be introduced. You have good redundancy with the RAID array and a decent backup you are pretty well protected. LCR doesn't bring any major benefits to you.

Simon.

_____________________________

Simon Butler,
Exchange MVP
Blog: http://www.sembee.co.uk/
Web: http://www.amset.info/
In the UK? Hire me: http://www.amset.co.uk/

(in reply to ubay25)

Post #: 4

RE: exchange 2007 disk configuration - 19.Jan.2008 5:57:50 PM

ubay25

Posts: 14
Joined: 18.Jan.2008
Status: offline

Thanks again for the reply, no we don't need to use LCR but as it's a feature available for added protection I thought we could use it. But as you said, we already have RAID and backup, I guess we're going to be ok security-wise without LCR.
But how about disk space for less than 50 users? Our staff are light to medium users meaning they don't have really massive emails but of course I want to give them enough space as much as possible, do you think 146Gig would be enough?
Thanks again for your help, it's much appreciated!

(in reply to Sembee)

Post #: 5

RE: exchange 2007 disk configuration - 19.Jan.2008 6:27:29 PM

Sembee

Posts: 3960
Joined: 17.Jan.2008
From: Somewhere near London, UK
Status: offline

Disk space comes down to guess work, particularly if this is a green field installation and you aren't coming from a previous version of Exchange.
What I would do for 50 users of a firm of publishers is different to what I would do for 50 sales people. Light use of email could mean many different things - if you have users who send two emails a day, but each mail is 20mb in size, is that light?

The basic theory I work on with sites with existing Exchange servers is to take how much you need, including projected growth, then double it.
Or put it another way, you have half of the free space available for the database. This is to allow space for data recovery. Therefore if you take the number of users and the 146gb disks, then you could be looking at around 75gb in space, therefore allowing users 1gb mailboxes.

However another option would be to have two arrays, not three. Use the same array for the OS and the logs, just in different partitions. I blogged on hardware configuration for Exchange 2003 in 2006: http://www.sembee.co.uk/archive/2006/11/06/30.aspx
The basic theory applies to Exchange 2007, as it is still a high transactional database.

Simon.

_____________________________

Simon Butler,
Exchange MVP
Blog: http://www.sembee.co.uk/
Web: http://www.amset.info/
In the UK? Hire me: http://www.amset.co.uk/

(in reply to ubay25)

Post #: 6

RE: exchange 2007 disk configuration - 19.Jan.2008 8:03:24 PM